1) Delhi Police launch bicycle patrol
•The Delhi Police launched patrolling on bicycle to improve policing in congested localities in trans-Yamuna region of the city.
•The move is also being billed as a green initiative. The bicycle patrols will complement and supplement the existing motorcycle and PCR patrols which focus mainly on crime prevention along the arterial and main roads of Delhi.
2) Arun Jaitley inaugurates Telangana solar plant
•Defence Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated a grid-connected solar power plant of 16 MW capacity at the Ordinance Factory in Telangana’s Medak district. He also dedicated a 9 MW capacity windmill project installed at Dammur in Karnataka at a cost of Rs 53 crore by Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), a defence PSU.
•Jaitley dedicated both the two projects through video-link at an event. The solar power plant at Medak has been set up at a cost of Rs105 crore by Bharat Electronics Limited. With commissioning of 9MW windmill project at Dammur, BEML would be able to meet 68 per cent of its energy requirement through it.
•At the event, Jaitley also presented ‘excellence awards’ to various defence PSUs. The excellence awards in the institutional category for 2014-15 was given to Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad while the award for 2015-16 was conferred on Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bengaluru. The ‘best performance’ award in exports for 2014-15 was given to Goa Shipyard Limited while the award for 2015-16 was conferred on Bharat Electronics Limited, Bengaluru.
3) Indian Railways to launch 'buy now, pay later' feature for tickets
•To attract more passengers to buy online train tickets, Indian Railways has introduced a service ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ which allow passengers to make payment for tickets booked online within a window of 15 days.
•To buy tickets from the IRCTC website and pay later will decrease the difficulties involved in the payment process at the time. ePayLater, a Mumbai-based fintech firm has joined hands with IRCTC for adding the new feature to Indian Railways ticket booking services.
4) 43rd G7 Summit held in Sicily, Italy
•43rd G7 Summit was held on 26-27 May, 2017 in Taormina, Sicily, Italy. The 43rd G7 summit was the first summit for British Prime Minister Theresa May.
•It was the first time since 1987 that the G7 summit held in Italy was not hosted by Silvio Berlusconi, former PM of Italy. The Group of 7 (G7) is a group consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Union is also represented within the G7. The theme of the Italian G7 Summit 2017 is-" Building the Foundation of Renewed Trust."
5) India, Germany sign 12 agreements
•India and Germany inked twelve memoranda of understanding and agreements following bilateral delegation-level talks presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel.
•The agreements inked included nine joint declarations of intent (JDIs) and three memoranda of understanding. The agreements include collaboration in the field of digitalization, skill development, and cooperation in cyber policy.
•Besides, the two nations also agreed to resume the free trade talks between India and the European Union. The agreements were inked during Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit to Germany (from 29 to 30 May 2017). At present, PM Modi is on a four-nation tour, namely Germany, Spain, Russia and France.
6) India’s GDP in Q4 grows 6.1%, loses fastest growing economy tag
•India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 6.1 per cent year-on-year during the January-March, 2017 period according to government data.
•With this, India loses its status of the world's fastest growing economy. China's GDP grew 6.9 per cent during the same quarter. The GDP growth rate for the full year (2016-17) came in at 7.1 per cent in line with official estimate compared to a revised growth figure of 8 per cent in FY16.
•Agricultural sector, which expanded 4.9 per cent during 2016-17 compared to 0.7 percent in the previous year 2015-2016. During the fourth quarter (October-December, 2016), the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors grew 5.2 per cent, mining and quarrying grew 6.4 per cent, and manufacturing expanded 5.3 per cent.
